House at 2172 14th St. on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2014 in Troy, N.Y. This is one of 25 properties Columbia Development is going to buy on the edge of RPI's campus and they plan to ask for IDA tax breaks. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

House at 2223 14th St. on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2014 in Troy, N.Y. This is one of 25 properties Columbia Development is going to buy on the edge of RPI's campus and they plan to ask for IDA tax breaks. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

House at 2172 14th St. on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2014 in Troy, N.Y. This is one of 25 properties Columbia Development is going to buy on the edge of RPI's campus and they plan to ask for IDA tax breaks. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

House at 2223 14th St. on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2014 in Troy, N.Y. This is one of 25 properties Columbia Development is going to buy on the edge of RPI's campus and they plan to ask for IDA tax breaks. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

House at 2223 14th St. on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2014 in Troy, N.Y. This is one of 25 properties Columbia Development is going to buy on the edge of RPI's campus and they plan to ask for IDA tax breaks. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

House at 2239 14th St. on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2014 in Troy, N.Y. This is one of 25 properties Columbia Development is going to buy on the edge of RPI's campus and they plan to ask for IDA tax breaks. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

Beman Property Development, LLC, will invest $1.5 million to improve the buildings, Keaney told the IDA.

Plans are to redevelop 25 buildings, demolish one and determine if another building can be restored or must be knocked down.

Beman Property is the corporate entity formed by Columbia Development for the project.

SEFCU foreclosed on the buildings in 2012 when Troy Property Group missed payments on a mortgage of $8,588,372, according to court papers filed in the Rensselaer County Clerk's Office.

Troy Property was better known for operating as Campus Habitat. Neighborhood residents said students were being crammed into its housing.

Troy Property sued RPI when the university warned students living in the converted houses that the company was having fiscal problems.

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The company, which claimed it suffered $500,000 in damages, withdrew its suit and was ordered to pay the school's $33,212 legal fees.

The IDA approved the initial project resolution filed by Beman Property. The company is seeking mortgage and sales tax abatements and a payment in lieu of taxes agreement. The details are not yet available and will be disclosed as the IDA continues its review of the project.

The sale of the properties depends on winning the city approvals for the project. Thursday night, the city Planning Commission approved the necessary environmental reviews. Keaney said, as part of the redevelopment, Beman Properties will reduce the density of the student housing by 10 percent, to 200.

Columbia Development redeveloped the Chasan Building at Broadway and Fourth Street to house RPI offices, is rebuilding Proctor's Theater complex on Fourth Street that RPI owned and converted the Best Western Inn on Sixth Avenue into dorms for RPI.